ECW News August 1999
Gate Receipts - $6,875
Sponsorship - $1,200
Merchandise - $3,755
Misc - $786
Expenses
Fighter Pay - $48,238
Production - $295
Marketing - $2,014
Administration - $3,124
Contractual - $700
Misc - $14,076
Monthly Net:
-$55,831
Balance:
$1,712,471
Contract issues
New Signings
MW Vagner 31 yrs old 14-7 Standard $3,250 for 4 fights over 36 months (The FLB vet will add some toughness to the MW division and be a good test for our younger fighters)
HW John Patinkin 20 yrs old 0-0 Exclusive $600 for 5 fights over 36 months (A powerful fighter with a Judo background from Phoenix, could be a diamond in the rough)
WW Matheus Garcia 19 yrs old 0-0 Exclusive $600 for 4 fights over 27 months (A promising Brazilian Judo practitioner who will hopefully be one of the future cornerstones of the Welterweight division.
MW Buddy Garner 28 yrs old 14-2 Standard $3,750 for 5 fights over 42 months (Another coup, though I am surprised that GAMMA let him go so easily. He has lost 2 of his last 3 fights, but will instantly contend for us. The MW division is now a bit bloated and I will have to let 2 or 3 fighters go soon)
Extensions
MW Atsutane Akera 21 yrs old 4-1 Standard $2,750 for 5 fights over 45 months (Akera wanted 3K and I wanted an exclusive deal, so this was the compromise)
LHW Logan Sky 22 yrs old 2-1 Exclusive $1,800 for 5 fights over 39 months (He tried to play hardball early but buckled on my 3rd offer of the same salary, as I was prepared to let him walk)
HW Guy Broom 26 yrs old 5-0 Exclusive $5,000 for 5 fights over 42 months (Alpha-1 kept bidding me up and made the decision to stick it out, which hopefully will not be a bad one. Broom is now our 2nd highest paid fighter behind Gladstone Lopes and his $5,200 deal)
Terminations
HW Gareth Grundy 7-5 is released after his loss to Sahan Ozbek at ECW 17. The 29 yr old grappler was 1-2 with ECW beating Basil McCrystle by submission at ECW 6 and losing a decision to Nate MacReary at ECW 11
Cage Scraps
Alpha-1 has contacted Guy Broom with an offer, which would really disrupt our HW division. I am forced to call him to the table as well and it costs me as I knew it would.
Washi Shiganori is normally not a speaker, but he exuded a great deal of confidence discussing his September fight with Osmosis Benn for the latter LHW Strap, stating that he felt he was the superior fighter.
Alex Cole appears on the Big Cat show and gives a nice interview about his career, bouncing back from adversity in the cage and his hope for a rematch with Ethan Sutton.
Kevin Portman gives Blurcat.com an interview and talks about his upcoming fight with Brody Howles, indicating he hopes to derail the young prospect, though acknowledging it will be a tough fight.
Brody Howles gives an interview to Jim Archibald, but refuses to be drawn into any trash talk about Portman, focusing instead on how he prepares for a match and expressing his hope to be victorious.
Basil McCrystle appears on Blurcat radio and talks about the differences between boxing and MMA and how he now sleeps standing up because he cant do anything right off his back in a good humored poke at his horrid ground skills.
McCrystle returns to training after recovering from his head injury, hopefully with a focus on his ground game.
Top 15 Welterweights in the World
| Fighter | W | L | D |
| 1 | Alan Kendall - GAMMA | 15 | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | Jack Humphreys - GAMMA | 25 | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | Vikram Sithalayan - BCF | 20 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | Noach Van Der Capellan - SIG | 25 | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | Ichisake Miyagi - Alpha-1 | 24 | 3 | 0 |
| 6 | Manual Silva - FLB | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Xie Ming - Alpha-1 | 23 | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | Charles Stiles - FLB | 16 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | Syed Tan - Alpha-1 | 18 | 2 | 1 |
| 10 | Jim Carpenter - ECW | 50 | 9 | 2 |
| 11 | Julio Regueiro - GAMMA | 21 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | Kafu Bunya - Alpha-1 | 13 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | Rufus Stephens - GAMMA | 18 | 2 | 0 |
| 14 | Carlos da Guia - Alpha-1 | 16 | 1 | 0 |
| 15 | Procopio Golias - FLB | 15 | 4 | 0 |
Fights of Note
GAMMA 37 Just shy of 10,500 fans watch HW Champion Jeff Carlton defend his belt as he chokes out Fatuma Roy (Rear Naked) in 3:21 of round 1 in Mississippi.
Alpha-1 Fumiaki Hayashi retains the Alpha-1 Lightweight scrap taking Fujimaro Hidaka out with a vicious right hand in 2:10 of round 1 as 11,958 look on in Kinki, Japan.
BCF Martin Cupples is nicknamed the crippler, but it was he that was subdued as Vikram Sithalayan thwarted his attempt to take the BCF Welterweight strap with an Armbar at 3:02 of the 5th round in front of 469 fans in London.
XCC A solid turnout of 622 fans see Jamie Hewitt run his record to 10-2 as he defeats Coltrane Aaronson by rear naked choke to retain his Lightweight Title.
SCF 3 Steel City Furys third show draws 193 fans who watch Warren Kitt defeat Julian Beals vis decision over 5 rounds to become the first SCF Lightweight Champion.
GAMMA 38 13,617 fans show up to see Jack Humphreys (25-6) lift the GAMMA Welterweight Title from Julio Regueiro (21-1) as the latter suffers his first career setback. Buddy Garner wraps up his GAMMA contract with a submission win over Woody Fierstein on the undercard.
Alpha-1 The rematch between Ichisake Miyagi and Fukusaburu Hirano is a poorly fought contest that sees Miyagi triumph again via 6 round decision to retain his Welterweight Title in front of 12,448 fans. Both GAMMA and Alpha-1 did well on PPV with GAMMA pulling in 352,496 buys and Alpha-1 announcing 234,172 buys.
News of the World
Seigo Tsuda, a noted Japanese brawler who was a longtime fan favorite announces his retirement, which was a foregone conclusion since he has not fought for 2 years. He could always be counted on for an exciting fight and leaves the sport with a record of 38-27-2.
Rugged Japanese Featherweight Takahiro Nakamura has called it a career at the age of 34. The former KDM FC standout was unable to hook up with another larger promotion after KDM FC folded and goes out a winner on a local Japanese show to post a final record of 23-7.
Alpha-1 reveals their next event will highlight the Welterweights as Ichisake Miyagi will defend his Title against Kukusaburu Hirano and go head to head against GAMMA 38 on the 3rd Saturday in August. The PPV numbers will be interesting as the Titans clash.
Experts are now saying the American economy may not be as bad as expected and good in fact enter a boom period over the next 2 years, which is great news for the MMA industry in the states.
FLB 16: End of Days will feature a Light Heavyweight Title fight between Pedro Sousa and Leandro Piquet on the first Saturday of September.
SIGMA announces that they have completed the contracts for Terron Cabal to defend his Heavyweight Belt against Aleksander Ivanov in September.